Right Now

Awarded: APG Gold & The Nursery Prize for Best Brand-Building Insight

Cancer Research UK exist to bring about the day when cancer is beaten. Its such a worthy cause. But when you donate, it feels like you’re supporting one huge faraway war, the outcome of which will be decided years in the future.

It’s hard to imagine your £5 donation affecting the outcome of a big war, years from now. But it’s easier to imagine such a donation impacting one of the individual battles happening today.

Our strategy was to reframe how people see the fight against cancer, and so the charity’s role. Move it from ‘one day’ to ‘today’. Make it about immediacy. Battles being fought now, demanding action now.

So we worked with the fly-on-the-wall production team behind 24 Hours in A&E, to provide a window into the real life world of cancer.

We developed the campaign by shooting weeks of footage in hospitals and research facilities across the country. No actors. No scripts. The campaign is comprised of many many executions, mirroring the multitude of cancer situations that £5 could affect.

The campaign has now been running continuously for four years, and continues to deliver for Cancer Research UK. The courage of the people that agreed to feature amazes me – I’m hugely proud to still be involved in this project as it enters its fifth year.